British Columbia’s Provincial Nomination Program (PNP) saw a rise in the number of qualified employees arriving in 2019.
Skills Immigration (SI) is one of the two immigration categories handled by the Provincial Nominee Program of British Columbia (BC PNP). This source is for professional foreign workers wishing to settle in the westernmost province of Canada. B.C. nominated around 99 per cent of all individuals for permanent residency through this category. Entrepreneur Immigration is taking the remaining 1%.
The BC PNP had the highest number of registrants in 2019, the biggest year for the Tech Pilot and the most provincial nominations in a single year.
Skills Immigration Stream:
Through their provincial nomination from B.C., a total of 6,551 applicants were granted permanent residence, although originally the federal government only allowed the province to have 6,500. In 2018 BC invited 6500 applicants.
This pathway to permanent residency is for skilled foreign employees, who typically have a job offer in B.C. already.
There are five categories within SI, four of which are compatible with the Express Entry program of the federal government:
Skilled Worker Category:
This category is for individuals who have a job offer and several years of professional work experience
Healthcare Professional Category:
Physicians, Psychiatric Nurses, Nurses, or allied health professionals with job offers in one of 11 qualifying occupations can apply under this category.
International Graduate Category:
This is for workers who have graduated in the last three years from an eligible Canadian university or college;
International Post-Graduate Category:
Eligible Masters or Ph.D. graduates from B.C. Post-secondary institutions in the natural, applied, or health sciences can apply without a job offer for this category; and
Entry level and semi-skilled worker Category:
This is for entry-level or semi-skilled workers employed in tourism, hospitality, food processing or long-haul trucking, or for entry-level or semi-skilled workers living and working in the British Columbia Northeastern Development Region. This is the only SI category not applicable to candidates in the Express Entry System
In 2019, the majority of SI immigrants came from India (33 per cent) and China (15%). Approximately 75 percent of these qualified workers intended to reside in Vancouver.
Among new immigrants the most common occupations were:
Restaurant and food service managers -0632
Retail and wholesale managers -0621
Software Engineers and Designers- 2173
Graphic designers and Illustrators-5241 and
Transport Truck driver-7511 .
The average salaries reported by B.C. for SI candidates dramatically increased from 2018 to 2019. Increases were especially prominent in the groups of Foreign Graduates (19.5 per cent), Professional Employees (13.4 per cent), and Express Entry B.C. Foreign Graduates (13.1 per cent)
The average salaries of Immigrant applicants in various streams ranges from $44,257 to $74,359
Tech Pilot
The Tech Pilot is a part of the strategy of the provincial government to turn B.C. To become a center for new and emerging technologies, and to help the existing technology sector expand. This aims at attracting skilled tech professionals to B.C., and promoting the immigration process.
The BC PNP invites SI candidates into one of 29 engineering, technology, and business support services occupations each week. In 2019, 1,509 Tech Pilot nominations were released, which is 33 per cent higher than in 2018.
Tech Pilot nominations make up 23 percent of all nominations, up from 17.4 per cent in 2018.
